


Where We Were and Where We Are Now

by saiikavon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Timeline, Established Relationship, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Slice of Life, Voltron Secret Santa 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 16:16:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8997883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saiikavon/pseuds/saiikavon
Summary: A look back at the relationship between Keith and Lance, from friends to lovers, and everything in between.





	

“Hey guys, check out what I found while scanning for distress signals!” Pidge’s excited voice carried over the quiet chatter; Shiro and Allura talking over by the door, Lance bickering about some nonsense with Coran while Keith snickered at them through his hand. Then there was a crackle of static before a gentle jazz-like tune drifted through the air around them, and they all went silent. A voice began to sing in what must have been an alien language. Hunk turned around from watering the large, bright pink blossom in the center of the living area to look at Pidge’s triumphant expression, just as Lance let out a little “oooh” of appreciation.

“That’s awesome!” Lance’s blue eyes lit up and he practically jumped up out of his seat. “Hey, turn that up! Keith, c’mere.” He held out a hand to the boy next to him, earning a raised eyebrow in response. Keith put his hand in Lance’s anyway.

“What?”

“Just c’mere! I want to dance with my man.”

Pidge grinned and the music began to echo off the shining walls of the castle; Keith grumbled something about not being able to dance, but still allowed Lance to sweep him into some semblance of waltz. He wore a look of fond exasperation in the face of Lance’s unwavering affection. Pidge and Coran swayed to the music as Keith and Lance twirled across the floor. Hunk even caught a glimpse of Shiro and Allura in the doorway, smiling warmly as they took in the moment.

Hunk turned back around to continue watering the flower, whistling softly to the tune.

***

The castle’s halls were awash in dark, muted reds and blacks thanks to the swirling cosmic storms outside. The occasional flash of lightning painted streaks of white over the walls. Each flare and flicker danced in Keith’s eyes as he stared out towards the center of the storm, tense and unblinking. He turned his head once, hearing footsteps, before his eyes flicked back to the window. His fingers curled tightly into his palm.

“I take it you’re still worried about Lance?” Shiro asked.

“He was reckless out there,” Keith answered. “He shouldn’t have charged ahead without knowing if he could land on that planet. He could have waited, like Allura said we should—”

“You’ve never done anything similar, I’m sure.” A fond, if somewhat smug smile appeared on Shiro’s face as Keith turned to glare at him, but no argument was offered. Shiro placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder and continued, his voice kind: “Hey, I know this is hard. We’re all worried about him.”

“I know.” Keith sighed. “Just…it was so stupid. He was joking and…and flirting, and then he just…went in. Right into the middle of the storm. Ignoring your orders, ignoring Allura, ignoring the rest of us shouting at him…”

Keith’s next sigh was heavier. He turned and slumped down onto the floor, leaning against the window. Shiro joined him, slowly, still watching him.

“What’s really bothering you? It’s not just what Lance did.” Keith remained stubbornly silent. “It’s okay to have feelings about it, you know. You may be a Paladin of Voltron, but you’re still a person.”

Keith stayed quiet for almost a full minute, then he lifted his eyes towards the center of the room. Shiro followed his gaze to the wilted, grey flower in the center. “It was Lance’s turn to water it. He said he would do it after the mission.”

Shiro frowned. “Keith—”

“See, it’s…it’s things like that.” Keith seemed to look inward for a moment, scowling, his brow furrowed. “We don’t even know if Lance is okay and all I can think about is that flower, or how he charged off without listening to me, or how he’s always distracting me with his stupid laugh or his dumb smile. He kisses me when we wake up and I complain about his morning breath. What kind of boyfriend does that?”

Shiro remained silent. Keith was finally opening up and he didn’t want to interrupt. Even though it hurt to watch Keith get sadder and sadder with each word he spoke.

“If it were me, he’d have told me he didn’t want to lose me. He’d have made me promise to come back safe to him. I’m not romantic like that. I can barely manage not to be totally rude to everyone I talk to. But I should at least be able to show someone I care about that I…”

“That you care about them?” Shiro smiled. “Have you told him how you feel?”

“Once,” Keith grumbled. “I can’t seem to say it since. One day the last words he ever hears from me could be what an idiot I think he is, and I…I don’t want that.”

He fell silent, legs curling close to his chest and his arms wrapping around them. He looked like a lost puppy, and Shiro’s heart went out to him.

“Honestly,” Shiro said, “I think you’re selling yourself short, and getting wrapped up in your head because you’re worried. I also think that if Lance were here right now, he would be reminding you of all the times you made him feel as loved as you feel around him.”

Keith looked surprised. “You think so?”

Shiro smiled knowingly. “Just wait until Lance comes home. I think you’ll surprise yourself.”

As if cued, Allura’s voice echoed through the hall, loud and urgent. _Paladins, to the control room! There’s an incoming signal; it might be from Lance!_

Shiro and Keith exchanged a look, and then both got up immediately to go to the control room. Hunk, Pidge, and Coran were already surrounding Allura, who was frantically pressing buttons and pulling switches, trying to make sense of the static coming through. Keith watched with baited breath. Shiro’s hand was a calming presence on his shoulder.

Lance’s voice broke in through the static; fragmented, fuzzy, but there, joined by occasional flashes of his face. Keith pushed forward until he was right in front of the screen, his heart pounding wildly in his chest.

“Lance? Lance, can you hear me?”

_“—eith? I c—rly—ugh, this—“_

Allura’s voice startled Keith, as though it had physically broken some wall, some barrier Keith had constructed between himself and the small space of just him and Lance. “Lance, hold on a moment. I’m trying to fix the signal. The storm is still interfering.” Allura’s brow furrowed in concentration, and her fingers worked like crazy trying to bring up the quality of the transmission. Keith didn’t realize how much tension he was carrying in his body until the image started to clear, showing a slightly fuzzy image of Lance. The blue paladin looked tired, a little scratched up, but his face was flushed with life and his eyes bright. Keith let out a shaking breath.

“ _Lance._ ”

Next to Keith, Allura breathed a sigh of relief as well. “Lance, you’re coming in much clearer now. Are you all right?”

“Fit as a fiddle, princess,” Lance replied. Allura pulled an odd face.

“What is a—”

“Anyway,” Lance interrupted, “me and all the refugees are safe and sound, all huddled up in Blue, and I managed to park her right in the center of the storm. Might be a little hungry when it’s over, though, which is…when, exactly? Because we’re running low on rations and some of the refugees need more medical attention than a couple of bandages and some disinfecting spray.”

Allura took over communications, giving Lance an estimation on time, and forming the base of a plan to get them all out of there within the next two days. With Lance available for communication and his exact location pin-pointed, forming that plan became much easier. Lance looked tired, his face drawn; but he smiled as he listened and when Allura was finished, he turned back toward the refugees to relay the news, receiving an exuberant cheer in response.

“I’ll get started setting things up on my end. Make sure everyone’s ready for transport.”

“Take care of yourself too, Lance,” Allura chided. “We need our Blue Paladin back.”

“I’ll be fine, princess, don’t worry.”

Keith swallowed past a lump in his throat, and before he knew it, he was blurting out, “Promise me.”

Lance blinked at him. “What?” Static began to creep up on the edges of the screen, and Keith felt his heart start to pound wildly in his chest.

“Promise you’ll come back safe to me, Lance.” Keith swallowed again. He could feel his eyes burning. “I am not losing you.”

Lance smiled, every part of him glowing with so much warmth that Keith almost swore he could feel it through the transmission. The static grew stronger, obscuring the audio, casting a grey sheen over the image. But Keith could still see Lance’s smile up to the last moment, and saw Lance’s lips form the words: _“I promise.”_

The plan went off without a hitch. Two days later, Allura pulled the castle ship over the center of the dying storm, and carefully guided the Blue lion upward to meet them. They unloaded the refugees onto the ship one at a time, each time getting closer and closer to Lance. Keith’s stomach flipped and flopped with anxiety, every muscle in his body twitching with impatience, until at last, Lance stepped out of Blue.

Keith practically tackled him to the ground in an unrelentingly grateful hug, right there in front of the team, in front of all the refugees. Lance returned the hug, laughing softly with relief, warm and alive in Keith’s trembling arms.

***

“Keith! Keith, wait!”

Keith stopped short, his body still poised for retreat; eyes downcast, fingers curled into fists at his sides. His back knee was bent to take a step, but it was as though he had completely frozen in place until Lance caught up to him. A warm hand settled on his shoulder. He sighed hopelessly as his entire body relaxed on instinct.

Lance did that to him, more and more often these days.

“Lance, now…now isn’t really a good time…”

“This past week hasn’t really been good,” Lance countered. Keith flinched, prompting that hand to settle with a more comforting firmness. “Hey, it’s not that I’m blaming you…you’ve been dealing with some big stuff. It’s not every day you learn you’re part Galra.”

Keith’s fists curl tighter and tighter to the point of pain, the sting slicing up through the tendons in his hand and all the way up his wrist. Lance flinched, withdrawing his touch in an instant.

“I’m sorry if…maybe you don’t want to talk about it…”

“I don’t. I just want to be alone.”

“You’ve been alone, Keith. You don’t—look at me, please?”

The touch was on Keith’s shoulder again, and though every cell in his body is fighting to stay closed off, he surrendered to the call of Lance’s touch and turned around. His eyes slid upward in the span of a heartbeat, and he looked into Lance’s eyes. Instinct again. It had become so easy to let Lance into his world. He leaned into the hand that came up to cup his cheek, and the thumb that absently brushed his skin felt natural. When he looked into Lance’s eyes, he felt at home for the first time in days.

“You don’t need to be alone. We’re all here, everybody. And, okay, so you’re not really the type to share your feelings a lot, and you don’t have to…you don’t need to talk. Maybe you just need someone to sit by you and hold your hand, and that’s okay, I can be that guy. I just…” Lance ducked his head, and gave Keith a soft smile. “I missed you this past week.”

Keith lowered his gaze again. “I wasn’t sure any of you would want to be around me.”

“What, because of the Galra thing? Keith…” Lance hesitated, and Keith’s eyes flicked upward once again. His breath caught in his chest as he caught the look in Lance’s eyes…the gentlest he’d ever seen them, and brimming with wonder and…something else.

“Keith, you’re still the guy I fell in love with. Galra or not.”

Keith’s eyes widened. He saw the devotion, like fireflies in Lance’s eyes, and also the remaining awe, and the fear at Keith’s silence, the worry that those feelings could be one-sided. All Keith had to do was focus on the warmth inside his own chest to know that they were not, and could never be. He lifted one hand to take hold of Lance’s.

“I love you too,” he said.

Lance smiled, breathless. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

They stood there with their foreheads touching, their smiles bright and content. Next to them, a little bud began to show a spot of pink, like a shy little fairy coming to say hello.

***

It was quiet for once, and they were alone. They sat on the couch in the living area, Keith taking up most of the space, lying down and polishing his knife, his head in Lance’s lap. Lance stared in an unfocused way, past the potted seedling in the center and inward, to his own uncertain heart. His fingers moved, absently shifting through Keith’s hair as he thought.

He looked down. Keith’s eyes were half-lidded in that drowsy-calm way he got when he was almost relaxed enough to fall asleep. He kept on polishing his knife, barely moving otherwise, seeming not to mind Lance’s fingers in his hair. Lance kept going.

“Hey, Keith…are we…something?”

Keith stopped polishing his knife and tilted his head back to look at Lance. “What ‘something’?”

“You know…” Lance’s cheeks colored and he turned his gaze to the side. “Like…boyfriend…something.”

“Oh.” Keith set his knife on his chest, and Lance heard a soft sigh. “I…don’t know. Maybe. I can’t say I’ve…really thought about it.”

Lance’s hands stilled. “Oh…”

“Thinking too much makes things complicated,” Keith continued quickly. “I liked us just being…us. So I didn’t want to think about it.”

Lance quieted as he considered those words. His heart thudded, slow but strong, so strong he could feel it in his bones. His hands returned to Keith’s hair, stroking.

“I think about it, though,” he said at last. “Kind of a lot. And I thought…if we weren’t…I’d really like to be. I’d like _us_ to be…something.” He paused. “Would that be…okay?”

Keith looked up at him again. He smiled. “Yeah. I wouldn’t mind being…something. With you.”

Lance smiled back. Then, with hands on either side of Keith’s face, he leaned down and kissed him. Keith accepted without another thought.

***

“I’m just saying, she’s technically part of Team Voltron now. She needs a name.”

“Lance. ‘She’ is a seed.”

“She is a _princess_ , Keith, weren’t you listening to Allura? ‘The Princess’ Heart.’ And if we’re supposed to bring her up to be the most beautiful flower in the whole universe, I say we need to give her a name.”

“Why?”

“You know. To inspire her!”

Keith sighed. “All right, all right, we can think of…flower names later. We’re supposed to be beating Hunk and Pidge’s time on the maze, remember? So stop talking and focus so I can start giving you instructions.”

“Yeah, right. Right. Okay. We got this.” Lance rolled his shoulders and bounced in place, working his building energy into an even flow through fingers and toes, his arms and legs, even his heart. He worked his focus into place at the far wall, past the electrified walls that only Keith could see. “What’s our aim?”

“Four minutes and thirty-six seconds.”

“That it? Come on, I bet we could do a solid four.”

Keith chuckled over the communicator. “All right, hotshot. Four minutes. Ready?”

“Start the clock, my man!”

There were a few different mazes Coran gave them after they’d passed the initial test. They all had varying levels of difficulty, but this one, all the paladins agreed, was the hardest one to navigate. That made it all the more satisfying when they were each able to complete it for the very first time. Since then, however, it became more and more about chipping away at the clock, and seeing which team could get the best time. Pidge and Hunk held the current record at four minutes and thirty-seven seconds, as Pidge so often liked to brag. Lance and Keith, being who they were, absolutely could not let that stand. Also being who they were, they usually wound up eating up their time arguing, Keith losing his patience and Lance losing his focus. That being the case, they hadn’t been able to get anywhere below five minutes, which was profoundly frustrating.

This time would be different.

Keith swallowed before he snapped, avoiding the usual bite that came with him losing his place in the maze. Lance tapped his finger against his thigh each time he felt his mind starting to wander, and forced himself to listen to Keith’s voice. There was a hard ‘stop,’ each time he was about to hit a wall, and he waited until Keith resumed. Keith gave him one instruction at a time, regulating his pace with a finger against the screen. It was a system they’d developed on a previous run of this particular maze, and it served them well when they remembered to utilize it.

Eventually, Keith told Lance to stop one last time, that he’d made it to the end. Lance breathed a sigh of relief and paused to take off his helmet and wipe some sweat from his brow. His shoulders relaxed, and he turned around to give Keith a hopeful thumbs up.

Keith beamed down at him, returning the gesture before saying, “Four minutes and sixteen seconds.”

Lance lit up immediately, letting out a cheer as he pumped a fist in the air. “Yes! Oh, man, we are so on fire right now! Pidge is going to flip her lid! Do you feel amazing? Because I feel _amazing_!”

Keith laughed. “Gotta admit, this feels pretty awesome.”

“I know, right?” Lance grinned up at Keith again, meeting his eyes, and the background blurred into nothing. They smiled at each other, and something warm and slightly heady permeates the atmosphere. Their cheeks flush pink, and not for the first time.

Lance cleared his throat. “Hey, so, I think we’ve earned a break…wanna go to the kitchen and grab some grub with me?”

“Yeah.” Keith nodded once, then stood up a little straighter and smiled a little brighter and nodded again. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Keith turned off the maze, then bounded down the steps to meet Lance. They ran out to the kitchen together, barely a few steps apart.

**Author's Note:**

> For Funsize, @funsizedthepokemonmaster on tumblr. I hope you have a wonderful holiday, and I hope you enjoy your gift!
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
> 
> Check out my tumblr!
> 
> Main: http://saiikavon.tumblr.com/  
> Writing blog: http://saiikasnotebook.tumblr.com/


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